6 Ups & 5 Downs From WWE Raw (Results & Review - 15 Jan)

2. A WrestleMania Dream Match

In an ideal world, you always want to show, not tell, they story you’re trying to convey. But sometimes, it doesn’t hurt to just show fans the match they plan to deliver and tell them bluntly that it’s coming.

That more or less is what WWE delivered Monday night when Becky Lynch interrupted Rhea Ripley’s in-ring promo to trace the two international superstars’ similar – and yet very different – paths to the top of the women’s division. Lynch called them “the two very best to do it,” praising Ripley constantly and finally putting her over in the strongest of terms: “I think you might be better than me.”

But The Man wasn’t going to stop there, saying she needs to prove herself wrong by taking Rhea’s Women’s World Championship, and the only way to do that was by winning the Royal Rumble, something Ripley supported, adding, “See you at WrestleMania.”

A major program between Lynch and Ripley has been teased for months since they crossed paths briefly backstage and exchanged glances, but this was about as overt as it gets, with Rhea openly cheerleading for Becky to win the Rumble and choose her. No mystery, no subtlety, no problem.

There still are other contenders out there to win the women’s Rumble, but putting a challenger on a very clear trajectory to Ripley was a solid move. Lynch laid the narrative out well, and now it just depends on how they proceed from here.